Before you learn about your specific responsibilities for handling U-M administrative data, let’s look at some basic data concepts and terminology. As an administrative data user, you need to know how the university classifies and categorizes data for access and compliance purposes.

Public Data – have no access restriction and may be released to the general public.

Private/Confidential Data – are available to university employees who must access the information in the performance of their official university duties. All institutional data, unless otherwise noted, are designated as private/confidential.

Sensitive Data – are only available to university employees who obtained specific authorization for access. Sensitive data should never be released in a manner that would allow the data element values to be identified with a specific person or persons.

Remember, regardless of its classification, administrative data may not be used unless the user of the information is also authorized and has a "need to know" related to their university position. Similarly, administrative data may not be shared unless the recipient of the information is also authorized and has a "need to know" related to their university position.